Off to Botswana

I have made some significant progress on my kitchen project and I'm fairly happy with it's current status. I have confirmed: an incredibly reduced price (R15500 down from R26200) for an industrial stove; free refrigerator and freezer (valued at R8000) ; donation of all plumbing supplies (valued at R3000); partial donation of electrical supplies (valued at R2500); partial donation of bricks (R21000 of bricks for R10500); donation of food for the worker's lunch (valued at R1000); and reduced-price labor (R14000 of wages for only R10000). I am waiting to hear from Alert Steel (possible donation of R2300), a few brick companies (to see if I can get a full donation), LaFarge Concrete (I'm looking for a cost reduction) and Afrisam Cement (possible donation of R2800).

The Peace Corps has voiced concern over the high price of the project which was edging up to 10000USD. To make it easier to raise the funds, I have elected to try and find corporate sponsorship within South Africa.

I contacted the head of special projects from the Mpumalanga Department of Education who is responsible for overseeing the operations of Peace Corps in Mpumalanga. I had approached him before concerning finding funding for the classroom renovation. He has kept promising me a meeting with the philanthropy board of trustees-the board that makes decisions on how funds donated to the Department of Education will be allocated-so that I could present the renovation project. I called him yesterday and he said that there is a large backlog of projects and I wouldn't get to meet with them anytime soon.

As I was talking to him, I ran out of airtime; a majority of people, myself included, use prepaid cell phones instead of plans. I requested that he call me back. He said, "Okay, but it may take a while because I'll have to call from someone else's office or wait until Monday to call you". Confused, I waited about an hour and he finally called back. His department is so broke-possible poorly managed-that he wasn't even allowed to make a call from his office. He had to place the call from someone else's office and then transfer it to his desk.

I sent him the pictures of what I wanted to build and explained the features, project goals, and the funds I'd collected so far. Since he knows I've been working hard trying to do these things and I am running out of time, he said he would help me contact the private donors directly to see if anyone is interested in funding the project. I calculated that between material donations we've received and my fund-raising goals from US donors, we would cover 60% of the project costs. I asked the donors to support me with R50000. If I am able to secure those funds, the project will require approximately $4800 in US donations. If I am able to get the material donations I anticipate, it could cost as little as $2500.

I have contacted all of the relevant people and most have said they'd get back to me next week. I instructed them to e-mail me or if I hadn't heard from them via e-mail I'd call them a week from Monday when I return.

All of next week I will be in Botswana and mostly unreachable. This is the first time in over a year that I've gone on a long trip with other volunteers, my first time traveling with any of the volunteers on this trip, and my first time in Botswana.

I am happy that I will be away for a week. Otherwise, it would be a painful week of letting Gmail refresh as the hours crawl by until the close of business hours each day then a whole weekend of no chance of anything happening. Pictures and progress report in two weeks!

New Kitchen Project

Over the past several months I've been working with my school and the parents on plans for building a new kitchen. The school currently has an "old" kitchen which means that the walls and the roof are made up of corrugated tin roofing material.

The kitchen also lacks electricity which requires the school cooks to cook over a live fire. Fires are time-consuming to start, firewood is very expensive here, and new generations of cooks will not be too keen on starting fires as most of them are accustomed to using electric/gas appliances. The cooking area is also small and exposed to outside making it unsanitary. The fire is also a major safety concern to the students as they are required to enter through the small door into the cooking area to be served their food.

I have designed a new kitchen that will drastically improve the school. I used a similar L-shaped floor plan:

The new kitchen facility will have three rooms, be built of brick, and will feature electric appliances, lighting, and running water.

The kitchen will have a single pedestrian door plus a double-door that leads to the kitchen storage room. On top of having electrical appliances, the kitchen will have a serving window through which the students will be served their lunches. The new building will feature a large porch that surrounds two walls of the kitchen so that the learners waiting to be served their lunch will be protected on rainy days.

The kitchen storage room has a double-door leading to both the kitchen and the outside. This will make it easier for moving in large equipment and food supplies from the outside and between the two rooms. It will, however, make it easier to move things out (read as steal). To combat that problem, we will be putting burglar bars on all of the openings plus installing a security system with sensors and cameras.

The third room is for general school storage and is only accessible by a garage door and has no windows. This will enhance the security of the space. The school has a safe room-a large concrete room with a bank safe door on it-that was meant to be used as a computer lab but is largely being used for storage. The school storage room will be used to store all of those things plus provide ample space as the school acquires new sports and other equipment. Once the safe room is emptied out, we will set up the computers so that they can be used to teach classes to the students and may even lead to adult education classes.

Two of the most important goals that I hope to achieve through this project are to increase the parent's involvement in school activities and get them to view the school as their own with the belief that they will value and take care of something that belongs to them. To achieve this, a majority of the construction work will be done by the parents who have agreed to do the work at a lower pay rate in order to reduce the cost of the project. Hopefully, they will take pride in knowing that they helped to build something that will improve the school and the quality of their children's education; and make them willing to assist the school more in the future.

Their efforts will be memorialized either through a commemorative plaque or painting their names on the side of the building. My principal expressed interest in honoring my participation through painting the American flag on the wall. I said that unless it was painted alongside a South African flag of equal size and height above the ground, I don't think it would be appropriate. I don't want it to seem like "I came, I saw, I conquered" because I'm not a big fan of imperialism which is very anti-Peace Corps.

In order to fund this project I am using a Peace Corps Partnership Program grant. The way this grant works is the community raises 25% of the costs and the rest is funded through donations from U.S. donors. Donations can be made through their website.

For those of you who have wanted to support me in some way, this is your opportunity. At this time, the total estimated cost of the project is 105000 Rand. Through donations from the community and South African companies, we have raised approximately 42000 Rand or 39% of the project cost and require 63000 Rand. This is approximately $8500 that must be raised from U.S. donors.

All money donated to this project goes directly to funding this project and is 100% tax deductible. Once the project has been fully approved it will be posted on the Peace Corps Partnership Program website. I will then post directions for making donations. If anyone knows of organisations that may be interested in supporting me (i.e. non-profits, churches, private companies) please let me know so I can appeal to them directly.

I appreciate any support I can get. I'm sorry that I've left you in the dark the past few months and thanks for continuing to follow my blog!